Huawei developing SSD-tape hybrid amid US tech restrictions

Huawei’s in-house development of Magneto-Electric Disk (MED) archive storage technology combines an SSD with a Huawei-developed tape drive to provide warm (nearline) and cold data storage.

MED technology was first revealed back in March. We were told that, facing potential disk supply disruption due to US technology export restrictions, Huawei was working on its own warm and cold data storage device by combining an SSD, tape cartridge, and drive in a single enclosure. Its storage portfolio could then run from fast (SSD) for hot data and MED for warm and cold data, skipping disk drives entirely.

The MED is a sealed unit presenting a disk-like, block storage interface to the outside world, not a streaming tape interface. Inside the enclosure there are two separate storage media devices: a solid-state drive with NAND, and a tape system, including a tape motor for moving the tape ribbon, a read-write head, and tape spools. 

This is unlike current tape cartridges, which contain a single reel of tape, approximately 1,000 meters long, and have to be loaded into a separate drive for the tape to be read and have data written to it. A tape autoloader contains the motor and spare reel with tape cartridges loaded into it and moved to the drive by a robotic mover. Much bigger tape libraries also have robotics to select cartridges from the hundreds or thousands stored inside them, and transport them to and from the tape drives.

Leave a Comment